I love formatting. No, I don’t like formatting documents to create a well structured good looking one. I like formatting electronic equipment. I’ve been at it since about 10 years. I like trying out new things on computing devices and my computer gave up on me after enduring about 8 years of rough use, but the hard drive still doesn’t feel the pain twice a month formatting(on an average). Then it was turn of my laptop to enter the formatting cycle. Hell!! I have even upgraded my television(though not actually formatting, but the odds that the power might switch right at the moment the T.V. is updating the firmware and I may end up rendering it useless, are high). Then there is my phone, my beloved Samsung Wave which has endured some formatting cycles for upgrade from BADA 1.2 to 2.0, then back to 1.2 then again to 2.0.

But that’s another tale. It’s human nature. I love formatting and there’s no correctional facility to cure me of this.

The day was yesterday and I suddenly felt the urge to format my phone(actually to prepare it for latest upgrade from samsung). During the process, I bricked it!!(When a phone is said to be bricked, there is little hope for its revival at home, and if you don’t get it repaired at a service center, you should use it as a brick to hit someone. Or may be use it in the masonry work when you renovate your house. Hence the term, “BRICKED”).

Today I went in search of a service center, though I was doubtful I would find one in my home town. Miraculously, I found one brand new service center, almost accidently, and walked in without a second thought. I handed over the phone and sat near the counter, unmindful of anyone else’s business. Especially that of the person who was having an argument with the customer service center employee. I tried not to listen, but the word format did fall on my ears. The employee asked the person to sit in the waiting area and check the phone properly.

The man returned after few minutes, complaining that the phone was slow while operation. The service man came out of his cabin explaining that this was due to the memory card. He said that there was a virus transferred from other phone via bluetooth and this normally occurs in phones with memory card and bluetooth. The man digested it. I did not. But the man had come to a service center for simply formatting his phone, so why judge him. Neither did I want to lose my precious knowledge explaining the service center employee or the person with the phone about phone viruses.

A few minutes later the person came back again, complaining that even though the phone was formatted, there was still one message left on it. The employee at the counter stated that it might have just arrived. On this the man showed him the message and it was few days old. The man was right on his part saying that whenever a phone is formatted all files get deleted. The employee simply deleted the file and stated that ……..

“………Sometimes even after formatting, few files remain on phone. It is common” .

The man digested it. After all, the service center employees were supposed to know everything that is to be known about a phone.

I couldn’t digest it. A knot of fear developed in tummy. I could see through the window of the service area. My phone was already opened up and being checked by the another employee.

They have asked me to come back tomorrow. I am sure to have a sleepless night. After all, this is the first time that I have witnessed a stubborn message left on the phone even after formatting it.